Family
by Laplandgurl
Summary: Mari discovers a long lost relative - who is it? A sequel to One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before any anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**FAMILY**

**Chapter 1 – A Special Dinner**

Mari smiled, as she walked down the hallway towards the reception area, where Dean Allan was waiting for her.

"Hi, ready to go?" Dean asked, giving the petite red-head woman a hug and kiss in greeting.

"Just about, I have to get a few things from my locker," Mari went to the locker room, when she rejoined Dean, she found Horatio talking with Dean. "Hi Horatio, were you looking for me?"

"No, I was just about to leave when I spotted Dean, looking a little lost," Horatio teased gently.

"Horatio was just taking pity on me, he knew that I was missing someone," wise cracked Dean.

"Going out to dinner?" asked Horatio.

"We are going to Casa Tua, our favourite restaurant," replied Mari.

"Hmm, great food," agreed Horatio, a sad look in his eyes.

"Also it helps that Dean's parents own the restaurant," Mari smiled at Dean.

"I always take advantage of family perks." grinned Dean. "Do you have plans? You are more then welcome to join us."

"No, I have plans, but thank you," refused Horatio.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," said Mari, slipping her hand thru Dean's arm.

"Have fun," smiled Horatio.

At Casa Tua, Dean and Mari enjoyed their meal at their favourite table. And Dean's parents visited with their son and Mari during their breaks.

Dean and Mari were talking after they finished their dessert - the house special of Mojito Cake. "Mari, I have something to ask you," said Dean, reaching for Mari's hand.

"Yes?" Mari looking curious.

"I know that we have only known each other for a few short months, but I feel that we have a special bond. So I am asking if you would do me the honour of marrying me and being my wife, my soul mate," Dean retrieved a velvet covered ring box from the pocket of his suit jacket, opening it - revealing an old fashioned diamond ring.

"Oh Dean, it's beautiful," breathed Mari, gazing at the ring. "And I am so surprised."

Dean's face fell with disappointment as he anticipated Mari's refusal of his marriage proposal.

"Yes, I will marry you."

"I understand, it's too soon...," began Dean, stuttering to a halt as her answer finally registered. "What! Did you say yes?" Dean looking shocked.

"Yes, I will marry you," laughed Mari.

"She said yes!" Dean looked past Mari, and she looked over her shoulder to see Dean's parents standing there - smiling. Dean pulled Mari to her feet, hugging and kissing her before sliding the ring onto Mari's left hand. "It's was my grandmother's ring," explained Dean. "We can get the setting changed if you don't like the style."

"No, it's perfect. I love it," reassured Mari.

"I'm so happy," said Jessi Allan, Dean's mom, as she hugged Mari. "Welcome to the family." And Sam, Dean's dad also hugged Mari.

"And you must call us Mom and Dad," said Jessi.

"We have to celebrate," Sam proclaimed - getting a bottle of champagne from the bar.

Mari and Dean had a glass of champagne with Jessi and Sam before leaving - Dean driving Mari home.

At Mari's house, Mari invited Dean inside for some coffee, in the kitchen Mari started the coffee machine, then turned to Dean. "Dean, let's not wait too long to set the wedding date. Recent events have showed me that life is too short and that anything can happen."

"I agree. How about we talk to Father MacDonald and mom and dad after church next Sunday, and set a date."

"Yes, we have a lot of planning ahead of us."

"Mom will be happy to help with the planning."

"That's good, and I want to ask Horatio to be the one to walk me down the aisle, that is if that is okay with you?"

"Yes, of course - you and Horatio seem to have a special bond," Dean agreed. "I'll ask Glenn my law partner to be my best man."

"And I want Calleigh to be my maid of honour and Natalia to be my bridesmaid."

"Can we have my Uncle's twins to be the flower girl and ring bearer?"

"Yes, my parent's were both orphans. So I have no other family."

"It's getting late; we can continue making plans tomorrow after work."

"Alright, I'm going to talk to Horatio tomorrow and ask him about giving me away."

"Sure and don't forget to talk to Calleigh and Natalia," Dean gave Mari - a hug and a lingering good night kiss.

"Umm, good night Dean and drive safe," Mari walked with Dean to the front door - kissing him again, before he left. Mari locked the door behind Dean - setting the security alarm.

The next day Mari was working in the lab, when Horatio walked into the room. "You were looking for me?"

Mari looked up, smiling at her boss. "Yes, can you spare a few minutes?"

"I have nothing urgent on my plate at the moment. What's up," asked Horatio, looking curious.

Mari set the tools that she was using off to one side, before stripping off her latex gloves and held her left hand out, her engagement ring flashing in the overhead light.

"What's this?" Horatio gently took Mari's hand - taking a close look at the ring. "So Dean followed thru with his proposal."

"You knew!"

"Yes, Dean mentioned it to me last night," smiled Horatio. "I'm happy for you, Dean is a good man."

"Yes, he is. Obviously we haven't set a date yet. But I would like to ask you if you would give me away," Mari looked anxiously at Horatio, biting her lip.

Horatio looked surprised and pleased at the same time. "I would be honoured and congratulations on your engagement," Horatio gave Mari a huge hug.

"Thank you, we will let you know when the wedding will be. But we do know one thing; it's not going to be a long engagement."

Horatio's phone rang and he signed. _"Excuse me,"_ and left Mari's lab while talking on his cell phone.

At lunchtime, Mari met Calleigh and Natalia in the breakroom as per their usual practice, if they were not in the field. Mari didn't say anything - waiting to see if the two CSIs would notice. The three of them were eating and practicing their signing.

Suddenly Calleigh reached out, grabbing Mari's hand. _"Oh my Lord! Is this what I think it is?" _signed Calleigh, turning Mari's hand from side to side.

_"What?" _Natalia peering at Mari's hand.

Mari just smiled in response to their questions.

_"It is, you are engaged,"_ Calleigh answered her own question.

_"Dean proposed last night at his parent's restaurant,"_ Mari signed happily. Calleigh and Natalia hugged Mari in delight, signing their congratulations.

_"Calleigh, Dean and I want you to be my maid of honour. And Natalia, we want you to be my bridesmaid."_

_"Oh, I would be honoured,"_ replied Calleigh and Natalia also signed her agreement to be a bridesmaid. The three women talked about wedding plans for the rest of their lunch break.

On Sunday, Dean and Mari went to church along with Dean's parents where their minister Father MacDonald announced their engagement to the church congregation, who clapped their congratulations. After the church service, a number of their fellow churchgoers stopped to speak with the happy couple and his parent's with their congratulations. Finally they were able to get together with Father MacDonald to discuss possible wedding dates. Between the five of them, they settled on a wedding date - six months in the future. Dean and Mari decided that they wanted to be married in October, the same month as their birthdays.

Days passed and Mari with Jessi's help was busy making wedding plans. And Dean was busy defending a man who was facing 1st degree murder charges, which meant that he was working last most evenings.

At work, Mari was working, but kept looking up every time someone passed by the lab. She was concentrating on placing markers on a skull, when Alexx walked into the room. "Hi Mari."

Mari jumped in surprise, dropping a handful of markers. "Dang it, I wish people would give me some warning."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Alexx apologized.

"Sorry, it's just me," said Mari with a sheepish look.

"What's wrong? Is there something bothering you?"

"It's nothing."

"Mari honey, you know me better than that. Come on tell me what's wrong?" Alexx looked at Mari with a very familiar look.

"Have you been taking lessons from Horatio?"

"He learned from me," Alexx chuckled. "Now tell me everything."

"I'm probably just spooked, but I feel that someone is been watching me, and no, I don't have any idea who it might be."

"Have you mentioned it to anybody? Dean or Horatio?"

"No, I don't have any evidence."

"Isn't Dean involved in a high profile case right now? Maybe it is related to the case."

"I don't know, but I do know that Dean has enough to worry about right now. I don't want to add to his worries."  
"You need to tell someone, either Dean or Horatio. And if you won't, I will," insisted Alexx.

"Is there a problem ladies?" asked Horatio, stepping inside the room, frowning slightly at Alexx and Mari - who looked at each other with guilty looks.

"I need to get back to the morgue, Mari can explain the situation," Alexx left the room.

"Thanks alot," Mari muttered.

"Mari, what is going on?" Horatio - giving Mari that famous "Horatio look" with his hands on his hips.

"It's personal and I need to talk to Dean first."

"Mari," Horatio said in a warning tone.

"I promise that I won't let it interfere with work, and I really need to talk it over with Dean first," begged Mari.

"Soon Mari," Horatio looking at Mari before leaving the room.

That evening after a delicious dinner that Dean had prepared for Mari at his house, they relaxed on the couch while looking at photo albums.

"Who is this pretty girl?" asked Mari, seeing pictures of Dean hugging an attractive Latino girl.

"That's Cleo; I dated her for awhile when I was in law school."

"Yeah, was it serious?" Mari asked curiously.

"We were in an exclusive relationship in our senior year."

"What happened? Why did you break up?"

"Cleo wanted to get married after graduation and she me told that she was pregnant and that I was the father."

"What?"

"I was wild when I was younger before I committed myself to Jesus," Dean admitted.

"Was she pregnant?"

"No, she lied about the pregnancy, and when I found out the truth, I broke up with Cleo."

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know, she didn't finish law school."

"She quit law school?"

"Yeah, someone told me that she went home to New York."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

"How is the case doing?"

"Not so good, the evidence is overwhelming."

"I will be glad when it will be finally over. You have been so busy lately."

"I know and I miss being with you."  
"Me too," sighed Mari.

"You should go, it's getting late."

"Is that the time? I've got to get going, I'm such a slow starter in the morning," Mari kissed Dean before scrambling off the couch.

Dean walked Mari to her car, giving her a good night kiss and hug. "Drive safe."

"I will," Mari said, before driving out of Dean's driveway.

Mari was driving alongside one of the many canals in Miami, this one close by her street. There wasn't much traffic that time of night in her neighborhood. Mari was turning onto her street, when suddenly she was broadsided from the passenger side, slewing her car sideways into the canal. Mari hit her head on the side window, stunning her until she felt the cold water seeping into the car.

As the car slowly sank into the canal, Mari thought of her hearing aids, grabbing an empty plastic bag from the console of the car - putting the aids in the bag and knotting it shut. By this time the water was up to Mari's chest, Mari rolled her window open before the car sank completely - taking deep breaths before swimming out the open window, escaping from the sunken car, clutching the plastic bag - swam to the surface. Mari crawled up over the bank, collapsing on the shoulder -gasping for breath. 


	2. Splish Splash

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**a/n: And the timeline for this story is set after Horatio and Eric returned from Brazil and before the events of Calleigh's accident and Eric being shot – I wrote this story the fall of 2006. **

**Chapter 2 – Splish Splash**

Mari looked up from where she was sitting when she saw flashing lights and realized that they were police cars.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" a uniformed officer knelt beside Mari, but she didn't hear him and there wasn't enough light for her to lip-read him.

"Please, I'm deaf and I need to see your face to be able to lip-read," explained Mari. "I work for Lt. Horatio Caine of the CSI lab. Could you please contact him for me? My name is Mari Jessop." Shivering from the cold water.

The uniformed officer wrapped an emergency blanket around Mari's shoulder's that his partner passed to him before shining his flashlight up in his face so Mari could see his face. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I think that I hit my head."

"Were you drinking tonight, ma'am?" the officer asked, then noticed Lt. Caine walking up.

"Officer, I would like to speak with Mari."

"Yes sir," the officer standing up so Horatio could take his place.

"Horatio, we need to stop meeting like this," Mari quipped weakly, starting to get up. 

Horatio placed his hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. "Officer, give me your flashlight," Horatio requested, taking the flashlight and shining it on his face. "Mari, I want you to stay still until Rescue can check you over."

"Okay, I think that it was a car that hit me, pushing me into the canal. I don't see it, they must have left," Mari looking around.

"Another car," Horatio - flipped his cell phone open, requesting that dispatch contact Eric Delko to respond to the scene, then flipped his phone shut and motioned Rescue over to Mari.

"Please check Mari over and be advised that Mari is deaf and needs to see your faces to lip-read."

"Yes sir," Rescue nodded, and started examining Mari, then helped her up onto the gurney and wheeling the gurney to the ambulance – placing the gurney with Mari on it inside the back of the ambulance. Horatio climbed in once everyone else was inside.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" asked Terry the dark haired EMT - carefully checking Mari for seatbelt injuries.

"I think that I hit my head on the window."

"Mari, what are you holding in your hand?" questioned Horatio.

Mari looked blankly at her hand - slowly opening it. "I tried to keep my hearing aids from getting wet. But I don't think that it worked."

Horatio took the bag from Mari's hand, tearing it open and draining the water out. "Maybe they can be dried out," Horatio placing the hearing aids on a piece of gauze.

The back doors of the ambulance opened up and Eric was standing there wearing a diver's wet suit. "Hey H," Eric looked past Horatio, startled to see Mari lying on the gurney in a sitting position. "Mari, was that you that went into the canal?"

Mari smiled ruefully and nodded.

"Eric, I want you to oversee Mari's car being retrieved from the canal, and its safe delivery to the lab, where it can be checked for trace from the other car," requested Horatio.

"Where will you be?"

"I will be on my cell; I'm going to follow the ambulance to Miami General."

"I don't need to go to emergency," Mari protested.

"I want to make sure that you have no head injuries," explained Horatio.

"I'll contact you once I have had a chance to check the car over. Take care Mari," Eric stepped back, closing the back doors.

Meanwhile Terry kept checking Mari over, checking her airway, breathing and circulation (the ABC's) then taking her blood pressure and checking Mari's pupils with a small pen light. Mari winced as the light was shined in each eye.

"Does that bother you?"

"The light is making my head ache," complained Mari.

"You may have a concussion," explained Terry. "Are you riding with us or following Lt. Caine?"

Mari paled, clapping her hand over her mouth; Terry grabbed a small basin - holding it as Mari vomited.

"I'll ride, let's go," ordered Horatio.

"Let's go Bryan, the Lt. is riding with us," Terry barked at his partner Bryan in the driver's seat.

As the ambulance lurched into motion, Mari groaned - looking green.

"Are you going to be sick again?"

"I hope not, I get carsick easy, when I ride backwards," Mari moaned.

"Try closing your eyes that might help," suggested Terry. Mari closed her eyes - lying quietly, as Terry continued monitoring her breathing and heart rate.

Eventually they were backing up to the emergency room doors, and Horatio reached for Mari's hand - saying. "We've stopped; you can open your eyes." But Mari didn't respond.

"Let's get her inside, she's lost consciousness," ordered Terry. Horatio opened the back doors, hopping out - helping the EMT's to unload Mari's gurney and pushing it inside, standing back as Terry reported Mari's vital signs to the doctor on duty.

Horatio requested that the ER staff keep their masks off when speaking to Mari, so she could lip-read.

"Has Mari's next of kin been notified?" asked the doctor, as she started checking Mari over.

"I am Mari's emergency contact, but I will contact her fiancé," Horatio replied before stepping outside to call Dean. Then returned to the emergency room, where he found that Mari had regained consciousness, but was groggy.

"Horatio, what happened? Why am I here?" mumbled Mari.

"You were in a car accident and you hit your head," explained Horatio.

"Where's Aaron? Did someone call him?" Mari looked around the room.

The doctor looked at Horatio, who quietly explained that Aaron was Mari's brother and he had been killed in the line of duty, making sure that Mari didn't see him talking.

"He'll be here later," the doctor said, looking at Horatio - shaking her head slightly. "I want to see if Mari will remember later." Speaking out of Mari's line of sight.

Dean came into the emergency room and a nurse escorted to the treatment room doors. Looking in he saw Mari, lying on the bed with Horatio beside her - then saw Mari being sick again.

Inside the doctor ordered Mari to be sent for x-rays to check for any brain injury.

Horatio stepped outside the exam room, meeting Dean in the hallway.

"What happened to Mari?" Dean asked.

Horatio explained about the car accident and the possibly of a head injury because of the memory loss.

"Where is she? I want to be with her."

"Mari is having x-rays done right now. They will let us know when she is finished," said Horatio.

Horatio's phone rang and he flipped his phone open. "Eric, what do you have?"

"Mari's car has been brought into the garage. At first glance, I can definitely tell that Mari was forced into the canal. There is paint transfer from the other vehicle. Ryan is going to help me process Mari's car for more evidence," Eric reported.

"Good, let me know what else you find," Horatio snapped his phone shut.

"What's going on?" asked Dean.

"The accident was deliberate, another vehicle struck Mari's car - pushing it into the canal."

"Any idea who might have done this?"

"Not yet, but we will find out," promised Horatio. "Something was bothering Mari today. She had said that she needed to talk to you before she could tell me anything."

"She didn't say anything to me this evening, but then we were making wedding plans. And we also talked about how we were not seeing each other as must on account of my work," explained Dean. "Do you think that it could be related to my client? The trial is not going well for our side. Your lab has made a strong case for the prosecution."

"I would expect nothing less from my team," smiled Horatio. "I will follow up on the evidence from Mari's car and get back to you."

They both looked up as the doctor walked up to them.

"This is Mari's fiancé Dean Allan," Horatio introduced Dean to the doctor. "How is Mari doing?"

"As we suspected, Mari has a concession, so we are going to keep her overnight for observation, and you may be pleased to know that Mari did remember Aaron's death. Once she is settled in a room upstairs, you can see her then," reported the doctor.

"So her memory problems are not permanent?"

"That's correct."

"Thank you doctor," said Horatio.

"What did you mean about memory problems?" asked Dean.

"Mari was asking for her brother, she had forgotten that he was dead," explained Horatio.

Eventually a nurse showed Dean and Horatio to Mari's room. Mari looked up as the two men walked into her room.

"How are you feeling?" asked Dean as he hugged and kissed Mari.

"I've got a heavy metal band playing in my head," joked Mari weakly. "Horatio, any suspects yet?"

"You let me worry about that, you need to concentrate on getting better."

"Mari, Horatio mentioned that you were going to discuss something with me this evening, but you didn't. What did you need to talk about?" asked Dean.

"I just have been feeling that someone has been watching me lately, I'm not positive about it. I just have that feeling – you know? You know how you can sense when someone is watching you?" explained Mari. "But I haven't seen anyone. It could just be me imagining things."

"I don't think so, not after what happened tonight," stated Horatio.

The nurse came in the room and stated. "Miss Jessop needs her rest, so you gentlemen will have to leave."

"I'm going to stay with Mari," said Dean.

"No Dean, you need your rest, you have to be in court in the morning," Mari protested.

"I agree, I will stay with Mari until I arrange for a guard," said Horatio.

"Okay, but only because Horatio will be here. And I will be glad when this trial gets over. I will see you tomorrow," Dean gave Mari a goodnight kiss, and left the room.

Horatio pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down facing Mari.

"My hearing aids, where are they?"

"I arranged for them to be delivered to the lab to see if they can be dried out. And I also have your engagement ring, the nurse gave it to me for safekeeping down in emergency," said Horatio. "Now try to get some rest."

Mari closed her eyes and fell asleep; it seemed that she had just gotten to sleep when a nurse came into the room to check Mari's vital signs and her eyes. "You are doing fine, try to get some rest," and the nurse left the room.

"That's what I was doing until you woke me up," Mari grumbled in response. Horatio chuckled, as he turned the light off for Mari.

The next morning, the nurse came into the room and woke Mari up again, who after a long night of being woken every couple of hours or so was feeling tired. She looked around the room and noticed that Horatio was no longer in the room. "When did Lt. Caine leave?" Mari asked the nurse, as she was checking her vital signs.

"Oh he left awhile ago while you were sleeping after a uniformed officer came on guard," replied the nurse. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Okay, as long as I don't move my head and start the percussion section going," answered Mari.

"Any nausea?"

"No, which is good. In fact I feel hungry."

"The doctor will have to check you over and you may have to have some more x-rays before we can bring you some breakfast."

Mari relaxed as the nurse left the room. A while later Mari sensed someone walking next to her bed and opened her eyes, seeing Alexx looking at her.

"Hey Alexx, you're not at work?"

"I was, and then I heard what happened to you and where you was. Girl, you are a magnet for trouble," Alexx carefully hugged Mari.

"Thanks for coming."

"I've got something for you," Alexx took a small box out of her purse and opened it. Inside nestled on some foam pads were Mari's hearing aids.

"My hearing aids, they've been dried out," exclaimed Mari and she quickly fitted them on her ears turning them on. "And they work great; oh it is so nice to be able to hear sounds again. Who was the miracle worker?" asked Mari.

"Horatio contacted a friend of his, who works with hearing aids and got him to open his workshop during the night," explained Alex. "Horatio knew that you would want you hearing aids as soon as possible."

Alexx and Mari then talked about how she was feeling and wedding plans.


	3. Don't Shoot the ATM

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**a/n: I really appreciate the reviews that I have received for the first two chapters – thanks everyone. And the comment about Mari trying to save her hearing aids from getting wet – that's what I would do because they are too darn expensive (over $700 per hearing aid in Canada – digital hearing aids are over $1200 per aid and insurance does not cover hearing aids).**

**Chapter 3 – Don't Shoot the ATM**

At the CSI garage Horatio checked on how Eric and Ryan were doing with Mari's car. "Did you two get any sleep last night?"

"We caught a few winks in the breakroom," replied Eric.

"How is Mari doing?" asked Ryan.

"She has a concussion, which means a pounding headache," answered Horatio. "So any leads on the other vehicle?"

"There is silver paint transfer, which is used on Honda cars," reported Eric.

"Horatio," Frank walked into the garage. "Patrol found a silver Honda abandoned in the public parking lot at Miami International Airport. It's banged up and it has paint transfer which matches Mari's car."

"I want that car to be brought into the garage and no one is to touch it until Ryan gets there," ordered Horatio.

"Let's go, Ryan," Frank and Ryan left the garage.

Eventually Ryan came back to the garage with the silver Honda on a flat bed truck wrapped in shrink wrap to preserve any evidence.

"Did you find anything?" questioned Horatio, walking into the garage with Natalia.

"Paint transfer from Mari's car, but no fingerprints yet. It looks like the car has been wiped down. So I decided to shrink wrap it and transport it back here," Ryan replied, watching the car being unloaded.

"Who is the registered owner?" asked Natalia, pulling latex gloves on her hands.

"The car was reported stolen from the airport employee parking lot," said Frank, walking inside the garage. "Airport security is pulling the footage from the security cameras now. They will send them here to the A.V. lab."

"So the registered owner works at the airport?" questioned Horatio.

"Yeah, he reported to work at nine pm and got off work at six am and that's when he found out that his car was stolen," reported Frank, reading from his notebook.

"The car was definitely stolen," said Natalia, as she was taking pictures inside the car. "They left the screwdriver that they used to pop the ignition."

"Get back to me with any evidence that you find," requested Horatio, before leaving the garage.

In the A.V. lab Calleigh and Cooper were going over the security tapes from the airport parking lot. "Anything yet?" Horatio walked into the A.V. lab.

"The owner drove into the lot and parked his vehicle. Half hour later someone walked up to the vehicle, got into the car and drove out of the lot," reported Calleigh.

"The thief was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up. No way to identify the guy," said Cooper, as he was watching the security tapes. "And the guy drove out of the lot thru the gates, which means that the parking electronic pass card was left in the car by the owner."

"Most employees would leave the card in the vehicle. Probably thought that it would be safe," said Calleigh. "Also it looks like the owner left his car unlocked."

"Good work," said Horatio. "Let me know if you can identify the thief." Horatio said before leaving the lab.

Horatio was doing some paperwork, when an officer escorted Dean to his office. "Hi Dean, how is Mari doing?" Horatio looked up from his paperwork.

"Still has the headache, and the hospital released her this afternoon. My mom is staying with Mari until I get there," replied Dean. "Any leads?"

"We found the car and we are still looking for evidence. Dean, could this be related to your court case? Have you received any threats?"

"Not related to this case, but my office has received threats in the past. I can get my office to send the file to your lab if you want."

"That would be good, maybe it is from a past case," agreed Horatio, leaning back in his chair. "What about your past? Old girlfriends?"

"The only girlfriend in my past was a girl when I was in law school," Dean explained about Cleo.

"So you haven't heard from Cleo since she left school?"

"No, someone told me that she had went back home to New York," replied Dean. "You don't think that it is Cleo after all these years?"

"I'm going to check on her whereabouts. I believe in checking every possible lead."

"I'll forward all the information that I have on Cleo, along with a picture to you," Dean looked at his watch, and stood up. "I have to leave, Mari is expecting me." Dean left Horatio's office.

"H, got a minute?" Eric stuck his head in Horatio's office.

"Come on in. What do you have?"

"We found hair in the Honda, it is from African American female, but no hits in CODIS," reported Eric.

"Good, that means that we have DNA evidence to compare with a suspect."

"But we have no suspects," said Eric in a puzzled tone of voice.

"Future suspects," amended Horatio. "Dean is going to send us files from his office with threatening letters, along with some information about a girl that he used to date. We may get some leads on who hit Mari."

Horatio's team followed any possible leads on Mari's attacker over the next few days. But all the leads led to dead ends.

Mari recovered from her concussion and returned to work, and continued making her wedding plans. But the harassment continued, from slashing her tires, smashing her car windows whenever Mari was shopping, visiting Dean or at church. It got so bad that Dean suggested that Mari start using a car service that he paid for, while Mari's car was put into storage. Notes started being left at Mari's house which stated that "Everything was her fault" or that "She should have drowned". Mari turned all the notes over to Horatio for analyzing at the lab. But the notes were printed on various computers at different internet cafés.

"This is so frustrating," Mari said one afternoon in the breakroom - talking with Calleigh and Eric.

"Eventually this person will make a mistake and we will nail them," Calleigh reassured her friend.

"I agree with Calleigh and when they screw up - we will come down hard on this person with both feet," smiled Eric, patting Mari's shoulder.

"I hope that it will be soon, it is so hard finalizing wedding plans, when someone is harassing your every move," sighed Mari. "But I just wanted to say thanks for your continued support – both of you."

After work Mari had her driver stop at the Miami-Dade Trust so she could use the ATM machine. Mari was in the process of using the machine, and no one was standing behind her, when suddenly the glass in front of Mari shattered. 

Gasping, Mari dropped to a crouch, looking around for the shooter, seeing no one Mari scuttled over to a huge cement planter. Peeking around the planter, Mari spotted the driver of her car. "Juan stay in the car and call 911," Mari ordered.

Mari still hidden behind the planter, snatched her blackberry out of her purse and quickly texted Horatio, advising him of the situation. Staying hidden until she saw several police cars arrive in front of the bank, along with Detective Tripp.

"Mari, are you okay?" Frank asked, helping Mari to stand up.

"I think so, the bullet missed me," Mari replied in a shaky voice.

"You've got blood on your face," Frank pressed his handkerchief against the cut, to stop the bleeding. "A piece of the shattered plexiglas must have cut your cheek."

Frank and Mari both looked up when Horatio's Hummer roared up and stopped with squealing tires. They watched as Calleigh and Horatio exited the Hummer, Calleigh pulling her evidence kit from the back, along with her camera and started looking for evidence.

"Mari, sweetheart, are you sure that you are okay?" asked Horatio, frowning in concern.

"I'm fine I just got a little cut from the plexiglas," Mari replied.

"Let me see," Horatio gently removed the handkerchief briefly before replacing it on Mari's cheek. "Did you get a look at the shooter?"

"No, it happened so fast. Maybe Juan saw something."

"I have an officer talking to him now," reported Frank. "I'll go find out if he saw anything."

"Calleigh - any leads on the shooter," Horatio looked over to where Calleigh was removing a slug from the bank machine.

"Judging from the trajectory of the bullet, the shooter was on the other side of the car. It looks like a .45 with a right hand twist, I'll take it back to the lab and run it thru IBIS," replied Calleigh, dropping the bullet in an evidence envelope. "I'll get back to you when I find out more."

Horatio nodded and turned back to Mari, as Frank walked over to rejoin them. "Juan says that he didn't see anyone, he ducked when he heard the gunshot," Frank reported. "Oh yeah - Juan gave me a message for you to give to Dean, he says to get a new driver."

"Oh," Mari blinked.

"What I want to know is how did this person know how you were going to be here?" questioned Horatio.

"I'm beginning to wonder myself, this was not a planned stop," mused Mari. "Maybe the car should be checked out."

"Frank arrange to have the car taken to the CSI garage," ordered Horatio.

"Will do," agreed Frank.

"Horatio, I'm wondering if Juan should be questioned further."

"Why do say that, Mari?" Horatio looked at Mari with a curious look.

"When Juan picked me up at work, I asked Juan to stop at the ATM and on the way here - he made a phone call. I don't know who he was talking to," Mari remembered.

Horatio looked at Frank and requested that Juan be taken in for further questioning. Then he escorted Mari to his Hummer and opened the passenger door for her. "I'm going to drive you to emergency in case you need stitches, then I will drive you home."

"You don't need to do that Horatio," protested Mari.

"I insist," replied Horatio.

"No really, Dean will take me. He just pulled up," answered Mari, looking over at Dean getting out of his car.

"Mari sweetheart. What happened?" asked Dean, hugging Mari.

"Someone took a shot at Mari," replied Horatio.

"My God, you're bleeding - did the bullet hit you?" Dean looking at Mari's face.

"I'm fine; a piece of the plexiglas cut me. The bullet missed me and killed the ATM," Mari reassured her fiancé.

"I was going to take Mari to checked out." explained Horatio. "But now that you are here..."

"Thanks, but I'll take her," Dean looked at his friend.

"I figured as much," Horatio chuckled wryly, then turned serious again. "Mari, one condition."

Mari looked questioningly at Horatio. "I want you to wear this kevlar vest everywhere, except at home and at work of course," Horatio stopped Mari's protests. "I know that you don't like wearing it, but do it for us."

Mari shrugged the vest on and Horatio adjusted the velcro straps to ensure a proper fit. "This is your vest Horatio. I don't want you to be going with one yourself," Mari protested.

"I will sign out another vest for my use, don't worry," answered Horatio.

Dean escorted Mari to his car as Horatio watched, as memories of Speed, Raymond, Marisol and other friends played in his mind.

Later that evening, Mari and Dean relaxed at her house after dinner, that Jessi had sent over from Casa Tua. "Tell your mom thanks for the meal, Jessi and Sam are spoiling me, they are so good to me," said Mari, cuddling with Dean on the living room sofa.

"They adore you," replied Dean, gazing at the butterfly bandages on Mari's cheek. "I'm so glad that you weren't killed today. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't worry, I plan to be around for a long time - driving you crazy," Mari teased.

"Mari, I've made some arrangements for armed security guards to escort you everywhere until this sicko is caught, as a matter of fact there is a guard on duty outside your house right now."

"I hate this," moaned Mari. "I feel like a prisoner."

"I know, but hopefully it won't be for long."

"Okay, but only for you," Mari looked at Dean. "How is the trial going?"

"It's been a long drawn out process, but I think that we will have closing arguments within a day of two."

"I hate that you have to defend these creeps. That you are on opposite sides of the law, that you have to try to discredit our work."

"I want to talk to you about that."

Mari looked curiously at Dean, silently encouraging him to continue.

"I've been offered a job with the State Attorney's office and I am seriously considering accepting the offer."

"So you would be prosecuting the criminals instead of defending them?"

"That's right. Sometimes I get so tired of the stupidity of some of my clients."

"Well you know the final decision would be yours to make. But I will support you either way. Have you discussed this with your partner?"

"I have, he will buy out my share of the practice if I decide to accept the offer, and he already has a couple of lawyers lined up to join the firm."

"Wow," Mari blinked. "It sounds like you have been putting a lot of thought into this. Why haven't you mentioned it to me before?"

"Well," Dean looked sheepishly at Mari. "I have no excuse other then the trial and the problems that you have been having."

"I forgive you," Mari chucked, hugging Dean. "Have you discussed this with mom and dad?"

"No, not yet. I'll let them know when I make a decision. But I believe that they would prefer me to accept the offer. They don't like most of my clients."

"I can understand that. When do you have to inform the State Attorney's office of your decision?"

"They're agreed to wait until after a verdict comes back for this case," Dean looked at the time. "It's getting late and I have court in the morning. Be careful out there and don't forget to wear the vest."

"I promise and good luck in court." Mari walked Dean to the door where they kissed. Dean left and Mari locked the door behind him, resetting the security alarm. Then gathered up one of her mother's journals and went to bed, prepared to read more about her mother's life.


	4. Who Am I?

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**Chapter 4 – Who Am I?**

The next morning, Horatio was waiting for Mari, when she stepped out of the elevator, carrying a tote bag and wearing the vest. "Good morning Mari, I'm glad to see that you are wearing the kevlar vest," smiled Horatio.

"Don't worry, I promised to wear it and I take my promises seriously."

"Come in my office, I want to let you know what we found out about yesterday's shooting," Horatio and Mari walked to his office, where Horatio shut the door behind them.

"What's up?" asked Mari, taking a seat on the couch, Horatio sitting beside Mari.

"We questioned Juan and we found out that he has no connection to your harasser."

"Another dead end," sighed Mari.

"We did find out how the harasser was keeping track of your whereabouts. Ryan found a GPS monitor on the car; we are still trying to trace who bought it."

"What about the bullet? Any matches in IBIS"

"No matches, but Calleigh is pretty sure that it is from a Colt .45."

"I'll take Calleigh's educated guess over the computer any day," laughed Mari. Horatio smiled in response, pleased to see Mari's smile. Everyone had been remarking on the lack of Mari's smiles and laughter lately.

"Mari, are you carrying your gun with you at all times now?"

"I got it out of the gun safe after I got home yesterday."

"Good, keep it with you at all times," Horatio stood up, looking at Mari.

"Horatio, there is something else," Mari worried her lower lip with her teeth. Horatio sat back down on the couch, asking. "What is it?"

"I've been reading my mother's journals, the ones that I found in my parent's house."

"I remember," encouraged Horatio.

"I've been reading them in order, trying to find out an explanation for the things that they did. I've never questioned my heritage, even though I have always wondered why I have red hair, a fair complexion and blue eyes and while mom, dad and Aaron had dark hair and a darker complexion then me. Mom always said that I was probably a throwback to one of their unknown ancestors," Mari reached in her tote bag and pulled out of one her mother's journals. She opened it to the marked page and passed it to Horatio to read.

Horatio quickly read the highlighted section, looking up at Mari with a stunned expression on his face. "My God," he breathed.

"Yeah, it was a shock to me too," agreed Mari. "But it may not be true; I may not be a rapist's daughter. But if it is true, it would explain why dad could never seem to connect with me emotionally, not like he did with Aaron."

"Do you want to know for sure?" Horatio asked carefully.

"I have to know, I want to know for sure. Otherwise I would always be wondering about the truth."

"Okay, let's go see Alexx to get some blood samples drawn and arrange for her to get the blood work ups from your parent's autopsies."

"Horatio, can we get Alexx to use an alternate method to identify the blood samples? You know what the rumor mill is like here in the lab. And I don't want any nasty rumors circulating around here if what mom wrote is not true."

"I can arrange it with Alexx," Horatio reassured Mari. Together the of them left Horatio's office and heading for the morgue, where Alexx was doing inventory.

"Hi," Alexx smiled at Mari and Horatio.

"Good morning Alexx," Horatio replied.

"Okay, what's the bad news?" questioned Alexx, setting her inventory list down.

"We need some blood samples taken," Horatio explained the reasons for the request.

"Wow," Alexx said in a stunned tone of voice. "I will put a rush on the request, hopefully we should know something by the end of today, you will probably want to have your questions answered as soon as possible. And don't worry discretion is my middle name."

"Thanks Alexx," Mari sat down, pushing her sleeve up so that Alexx could draw some blood. As soon as Alexx had her blood sample, Mari left the morgue.

"That poor child, she has not had an easy time of things lately," Alexx clucked like a mother hen over her chick. "Now park it mister and roll up your sleeve," Alexx ordered.

Horatio complied with Alexx's order and Alexx quickly drew some blood from Horatio's arm.

"Do you think that what Mari's mom wrote is true?"

"I believe so and it would explain some coincidences."

The rest of the day Mari tried to keep her mind occupied with her work, and her usual cheerful attitude. At the end of the day, Mari was putting her work away for the day when Horatio walked past her lab. "Horatio, any results yet?"

"Sorry no, the test results are not in yet, probably tomorrow. Go home and try not to worry about it."

"I'll try," Mari headed for the locker room.

The next day, Maxine walked into Horatio's office carrying a file folder. "Lt. Caine, I have the results of the DNA workups that Dr. Woods requested."

"Thank you and we appreciate the rush job."

Maxine nodded and left the office after giving Horatio the file folder. Horatio carefully reading the reports before leaving his office. 

Mari looked up when Horatio walked into her lab, shutting the door behind him. "The results are in?" Mari paled, blindly groped for her chair. "And?"

"I'm sorry, but your father is not your biological father," Horatio said gently.

"There's more, isn't there?" Mari demanded.


	5. Brother and Sister

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**Chapter 5 – Brother and Sister **

"Yes, I'm sad to say that your mother was raped by my father. But I do have to say that I'm not sorry that you are my half sister."

"What?" Mari looked up at Horatio with a shocked expression.

Horatio gave Mari a comforting hug. "Welcome to the family sis."

"I have family again," Mari started crying on Horatio's shoulder. Eventually she stopped crying, sitting up - wiping her face with a tissue. "I always seem to end up crying on your shoulder," laughed Mari.

"I don't mind, that's what big brothers are for," chuckled Horatio, his blue eyes damp with tears. "You should know that that you also have a niece and a nephew. And also Eric Delko is your brother-in-law as well."

"Really, wait until Eric finds out that we are related - now I can really torment him. And who is Madison and Ray Jr.?"

Horatio explained about Ray Jr and Madison and also mentioned how Mari resembled his Aunt Leslie and that she was Mari's aunt as well.

"Horatio, do you want to keep our new-found family relationship quiet? I know that you like to keep your personal life private."

"No, I would be proud to call you my sister. But we do not need to go into any details," said Horatio, smiling at Mari. "I've always wanted a sister."

"Thanks, I just thought of something, is this going to cause problems? You being my supervisor and my brother? Especially with Rick Stetler and IAB."

"No, it shouldn't. Eric being my brother-in-law didn't cause any problems so you being my sister will be no problem."

"Calleigh told me about you and Marisol, I wish that I could have known her."

"You two would have liked each other," Horatio's phone rang. _"Excuse me,"_ Horatio signed before answering his phone, and walking out of Mari's lab. Mari watched Horatio leave then returned to her work.

Calleigh stopped Horatio in the hallway and waited until Horatio finished his phone conversation. "Cooper and I finishing analyzing the video tape from the bank's ATM' camera. It didn't have footage of the shooter, the shooter was out of range," Calleigh reported.

"It was worth a shot."

"It's too bad that the ATM cameras don't have audio. Ryan is checking the traffic camera's from the front of the bank."

"Okay," Horatio nodded. "Anything on the GPS unit from the car?"

"Eric traced it back to a high end security equipment outlet. The unit was purchased with cash, no sales record."

"Another dead end."

"I wonder if our unknown suspect is in the law enforcement field, a CSI or something."

"That is a thought or perhaps they are just very lucky at cleaning up evidence," agreed Horatio.

"All we can do is keep going back over the evidence and hope that we get lucky."

"We keep plugging away," Horatio agreed.

At quitting time, Mari rushed towards the reception area to meet Dean, along the way she almost mowed Alexx down.

"Hey there sweetie, where's the fire?" laughed Alexx.

"Sorry, I'm running late to meet Dean," Mari apologized.

"I'll walk with you. So did Horatio tell you the results of those DNA tests?" Alexx asked gently, as Mari adjusted the velcro straps for the kevlar vest and clipped her gun holster to her belt.

"We got the results back and mom was right about her suspicions about my father's identity."

"So that means that you and Horatio are..."

"Related," Mari finished Alexx's question. "Yeah, we are half brother and sister."

"Wow! How did Horatio react? And how do you feel about the situation?"

"Horatio was happy about the whole thing. Me, I think that it's great to have family again - a big brother. But no one can replace Aaron in my heart."

"Of course not," agreed Alexx. "It doesn't surprise me about Horatio's feelings. Family is so important to Horatio."

"I gather that, and he has agreed that the relationship is not going to be taboo. We are just not going to explain the details."

"Well, there is just one thing left for me to say. Congratulations on your new found family," said Alexx, hugging Mari

"Thanks' Alexx, you are a good friend." They looked up when an attractive African American woman walked towards the reception desk.

"Hi Hedy, what are you doing here?" Mari asked. "Alexx, this is Hedy White, Dean's assistant. Hedy, this is Dr. Alexx Woods."

"Hi, Dean was delayed in court, so he asked me to meet you and take you to the courthouse," Hedy explained.

"Oh, okay," Mari turned to Alexx. "Alexx, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye sweetie and tell Dean that I said hi."

"I took a taxi here, we'll have to use your car service," Hedy and Mari walked out the front door.

Horatio came out of his office and saw Mari leaving with Hedy.

"Hey Horatio, Mari told me the good news. Can I offer you my congratulations on finding your sister?"

"Of course," Horatio smiled, he accepted Alexx's hug and kiss. "Thanks pal." Horatio and Alexx continued talking about this latest twist of events, walking out of the building.

"Hi Horatio, Alexx. Is Mari waiting for me inside?" Dean asked, walking up the sidewalk towards them.

"Mari? No, she left about 15-20 minutes ago to meet you at the courthouse," explained Alexx.

"Why? I was supposed to meet her here. I got a message in court saying that she was delayed at work."

"Your assistant Hedy came and told Mari that you were delayed in court and that you wanted Mari to meet you at the courthouse," answered Alexx.

"Hedy gave the bailiff the message from Mari."

"Alexx, did they leave in Hedy's car?" questioned Horatio.

"No, they left in Mari's car service."

"Dean, call the security company and find out if their cars are equipped with GPS, if so, get them to locate the car that Mari is in," Horatio ordered, as he flipped his own phone open and speed dialed Frank. "Frank, send some officers to the courthouse, there may be a situation. We can't locate Mari. I'll contact you with further details." Horatio snapped his phone shut. "Alexx, please find Calleigh, Eric and Ryan."

Alexx rushed back inside the CSI building as Dean finished his phone call. "The car has been located outside my office, they tried contacting the guard, but received no response," reported Dean. The rest of the team joined the two men outside.

Horatio contacted Frank and told him to deploy SWAT to the address that he gave for Dean's offices.

Meanwhile at Dean's office, Hedy stripped the kevlar vest off of Mari, along with Mari's gun, as the guard aimed his gun at Mari.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Mari, looking at Hedy and the guard.

"Why? Because you have ruined everything," Hedy said in an angry voice.

"How did I ruin things for you?"

"It was your fault that Dean got shot, then he fell in love with you. He was supposed to love me - you stole him from me."

"Okay, but why is Carlos helping you?"

"It's Dean's fault that his sister is dead," answered Hedy.

"Who is your sister?" Mari asked looking at Carlos.

"Cleo, she killed herself when she saw the announcement of your engagement in the paper. She's been crazy about him ever since he dumped her during their senior year."

"So, how did you two meet?"

"We do volunteer work at the airport together," explained Hedy.

"Enough talking, let's finish her off," growled Carlos.

The phone started ringing, Hedy and Carlos turned towards the phone. Carlos finally answered the phone.

"This is Lt. Caine, who am I speaking with?"

"Never mind who this is," snarled Carlos. "You find Dean Allan and get him up here."

"I need to know something first. Is Mari okay? I want to talk to her first," Horatio insisted.

Carlos held the phone out towards Mari. "The cops want to talk to you, so don't get cute."

"Does this cop have a name?" Mari asked.

"Yeah Caine. Are you gonna talk to him or not?"

Mari took the phone and spoke into the receiver. "This is Mari speaking and I am okay."

"That's enough," Carlos snatched the phone away from Mari. "You've talked to her, now find Dean Allan and get him here now," Carlos slammed the receiver down in the cradle.

"Why do we need Dean here?' asked Hedy.

"I want him to realize the pain of losing someone he loves; I want him to see Mari die in front of him."

"Then what will you do after you kill Mari?"

"Then I'm going to put a bullet in his brain, we can't leave any witnesses behind," sneered Carlos. "Are you stupid or what?"

"What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf, as well as stupid?" retorted Carlos.

Hedy turned away from the window with Mari's gun in her hand, shooting Carlos in cold blood. Mari winced as Carlos fell down dead, blinking blood spatter out of her eyes. "I will not allow anyone to call me stupid," said Hedy, standing over Carlos's body.

Outside in the hallway, SWAT officers were waiting, one officer reported in his throat mike. "Shots fired, permission to breech?"

Inside the command trailer, Horatio looked up in alarm when he heard the report. "Does your team have visual yet?"

"Negative," answered the SWAT commander.

"I'm going to call them again. Tell your team to standby until we have more information," Horatio requested. The SWAT commander reluctantly agreed with Horatio's request.

Upstairs, the phone started ringing again; Hedy snatched the phone off the cradle. "What do you want?"

"I'm just calling to let you know that Dean is on his way," replied Horatio.

"Fine, call me when he gets here," Hedy disconnected the call, and started pacing around the office - waving her gun.

Mari was looking around the office and her eyes widened when she spotted a thick wire snaking under the door. She quickly looked over at Hedy, who wasn't paying attention to her. Mari swiveled the office chair that she was tied to around, so that she was facing away from the door and started signing.

"We have visual," exclaimed a SWAT officer in the command centre. Horatio and the commander started watching the monitor.

"What is the hostage doing with her hands?" asked the commander.

"She's signing ASL; can you rotate the picture upside down? And someone get Calleigh in here," Horatio ordered.

Calleigh joined Horatio and the rest of SWAT in the trailer, where Horatio quickly gave Calleigh a "Sitrep".

"Gotcha," Calleigh started watching the monitor and interpreting Mari's signs.

"Carlos, the guard is Cleo's brother; he was looking for revenge for his sister's suicide. Hedy killed him because he was going to kill Dean and Hedy got mad because she loves Dean. Hedy was behind all the harassing. Hedy blames Mari for Dean being shot, and for spoiling her dreams of making Dean love her."

Upstairs Mari kept asking questions as to why Hedy was doing all this and what she planned to do when Dean arrived. And continued to sign Hedy's answers in hopes of giving Horatio more information.

"Hook me up, I'm going to join your team upstairs," Horatio ordered. The commander refused Horatio's request until Horatio informed him that he was going in - with or without permission. "Calleigh, you keep interpreting for us," Horatio requested as he was being fitted with a sensitive throat mike, ear receiver and body amour.

"Be careful and get Mari out of there safely," Calleigh replied.

Upstairs Mari kept Hedy talking and whenever Hedy wasn't looking at her, Mari was gradually moving her chair from the front of the doorway.

In the hallway Horatio joined the SWAT team and continued listening to Calleigh's voice. "Horatio, Mari is moving her chair away from the door. Mari is preparing for the breech by SWAT."

"Understood," whispered Horatio.

Inside Mari realized that the huge office chair hid her from the view of the camera, which meant that they didn't know that she was no longer protected by the kevlar vest. Mari quickly signed the information about the vest.

"Be advised that Mari is not wearing the kevlar vest. Horatio, Mari will not be protected," Calleigh said in an anxious voice.

"Roger, no vest," acknowledged Horatio.

Inside, Hedy stopped pacing back and forth. "He's not coming. I'm thru waiting for Dean; I'm not waiting any longer. It's time for you to die," Hedy aimed her gun at Mari's head.

"Go, go, go," Calleigh shouted. SWAT battered the door open and tossed a flash-bang grenade inside the office. There was a sudden flash and a loud bang which startled both Hedy and Mari. SWAT poured into the office with Horatio following, Hedy was quickly subdued by several heavily armored officers and handcuffed.

Horatio turned Mari's chair around to face him. "Mari, are you hurt?'

"No, I'm so glad to see you," Mari blinked, her eyes watering from the smoke of the grenade.

"Just a moment and I will cut you free," Horatio pulled a multi use tool from his pocket and cut the zip ties that bound Mari's hands and feet. Mari threw her arms around Horatio in relief, and Horatio hugged her in return.

"Come on, there are some people who really want to see you," Horatio escorted Mari out of the officer, leaving the SWAT officers to take Hedy into custody. When Horatio and Mari emerged from the building, the crowd of people behind the barricades started clapping. Dean broke thru the line of police officers, running towards Mari - gathering her in his arms and kissing her - as news cameras flashed and video tapes whirred capturing the moment for posterity.

"Oh Mari, are you really okay?"

"Yes, I am, thanks for Horatio and everyone else," Mari smiled at Dean and Horatio with watery eyes.

"Come on you two, before we get mobbed by the press," smiled Horatio, who spotted the news hungry reporters. They continued walking towards the Hummers, Frank and the rest of the team joining them - escorting them thru the crowd.

At the station, Mari answered questions and gave her statement until all the i's were dotted and all the t's were crossed. Mari and Horatio finally came out of the interrogation room, where Dean was waiting for them. "Is Mari all finished here? Can she go home now?" asked Dean.

"Yes, Mari is free to go," Horatio smiled at Mari.

"Come on Mari, I'll drive you home," said Dean.

"Just a minute Dean," Mari turned towards Horatio. "Please come with us Horatio. We need to explain some things to Dean."

"You two go ahead, I have to check on a few things before I can leave," replied Horatio.

That evening Horatio and Mari told Dean what they had found out about their parents and their new found status of brother and sister. Dean was shocked, but he had no hesitation welcoming Horatio as Mari's brother and his future brother-in-law.


	6. A Trip Down the Aisle

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in **_**Italics**_** means that the character is using American Sign Language. **

**Chapter 6 – A Trip Down the Aisle **

The following month found the entire day shift, along with numerous off duty police officers at the church, watching Horatio proudly escorting his sister Mari down the aisle, where Dean was waiting at the front of the church with Father MacDonald and the rest of the wedding party. Mari smiled at Alexx – who was sitting in the seat generally reserved for the bride's mother. Alexx was dabbing tears of happiness from her eyes, as Horatio sat down beside her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, I'm just so happy for Mari," Alexx whispered.

Father MacDonald began performing the age-old wedding ceremony while an ASL interpreter signed for the benefit of Mari's friends from the deaf community.

"Mari, please repeat after me," said Father MacDonald – smiling at the petite red headed woman. "I Mari…."

"_I Mari, do take you Dean to be…" _Mari's trembling hands signed her vows.

"Now Dean, please repeat after me. I Dean…."

"_I Dean, do take you Mari to be…"_ Dean slowly signed his vows as well.

Finally Father MacDonald faced the wedding guests and announced. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you for the first time – Mr. and Mrs. Dean Allan." Everyone clapped and cheered pleased to see Mari so happy, especially the guests that knew of the troubles in Mari's past.

At the reception Dean and Mari barely had time to enjoy the wedding dinner that had been catered by Casa Tua – Jessi's and Sam's restaurant due to the fact that their guests kept waving their dinner napkins in the air – for Dean and Mari to stand up and kiss. Finally Dean said. "That's enough of that. No more." As Mari giggled at her new husband's frustration to be able to enjoy the delicious meal.

Finally the dishes were cleared away and Dean and Mari danced their first dance as a married couple to Mari's favourite song. "You Light Up My Life". Then Mari proudly danced with her big brother, while Dean twirled his mother around the room.

"Are you happy?" Horatio asked looking down at his sister.

"Yes, I am. I truly am, life is good – with Dean and you being in my life," said Mari, her eyes shining with happiness. "I really do love Dean."

"I'm so glad for your sake," Horatio kissed Mari's forehead, as the song ended and he twirled Mari into Dean's waiting arms. "Take care of Mari – she is precious to all of us."

"I promise to cherish her with my heart," replied Dean. The band started playing again, as various couples started dancing – celebrating the happy occasion.

The End…..

**a/n: I know that it is a really short chapter. But hopefully there will be more adventures with Mari and the rest of the gang.**


End file.
